You either look forward to it all year or roll your eyes every April: today is 4/20. This year, the unofficial holiday for weed smokers falls on a very significant holiday for Christians: Easter Sunday 2025.
If you’re celebrating 4/20 in Florida, make sure your medical marijuana card is up-to-date, as smoking weed recreationally still isn’t legal in the Sunshine State.
If you don’t know what 4/20 is, here’s a guide to the marijuana-centric holiday, why weed smokers celebrate it and how you can legally celebrate in Florida.
Why is 4/20 a 'pothead holiday?'
If you smoke pot, you likely know that 4/20 is weed day – a day for a “puff, puff, pass” session (or many) with your pals – and you’ve probably already noticed it’s on Easter Sunday this year.
Here’s a not-so-fun fact: April 20 was also Adolf Hitler’s birthday. You may have heard a rumor in grade school that 4/20 is a holiday based around the late, great Bob Marley’s birthday, but that isn’t true. Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945.
The true origin of why marijuana lovers spark up on April 20 every year (or even associate the time 4:20 with smoking pot) isn’t clear, but there are a few rumored possibilities.
Has Easter ever fallen on 4/20?
Yes, Easter Sunday and 4/20 have coincided several times before, predating the smokers' holiday, and it will happen again in 62 years.
This year will be the 13th time Easter has taken place on April 20 since 1630, and it won’t fall on that date again until 2087, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Here’s a list of years when Easter fell on 4/20:
1631
1642
1710
1783
1794
1851
1862
1919
1924
1930
2003
2014
Today, Sunday, April 20, 2025
Where did the code 420 come from? Origin of 420 as code for weed
One of the most popular theories behind why April 20 became a day for getting high is a story of a group of high school students in the 1970s in California, who allegedly would meet to smoke pot every day at 4:20 p.m. But there’s little hard evidence to support this and it isn’t likely that a group of high school kids habitually smoking pot in the ‘70s could lead to “420” being a code for getting high across the globe.
Although a group of Californians published a slew of documents to prove this theory’s legitimacy, it’s hard to tell if it’s truly the origin of the holiday or using “420” as slang for smoking pot.
According to a Vox article on the origins of the holiday, “One common belief is that 420 was the California police or penal code for marijuana, but there’s no evidence to support those claims.”
So if it isn’t super-secret police-speak for illegal consumption of marijuana, it isn’t Bob Marley’s birthday and it wasn’t invented by a group of teenage stoners in the ‘70s, then what is it?
The answer isn't clear. No one really knows why or how, but for many weed smokers, April 20 is simply a day to smoke pot or advocate for its legalization in states where marijuana is only allowed with the possession of a medical marijuana card.
Can I smoke weed in public in Florida?
You can’t smoke weed in public in Florida, even if you have a medical marijuana card.
Florida voters will had a chance to make possession of recreational marijuana legal in the Sunshine State in November, but the amendment didn't pass.
Is Delta 9 legal in Florida?
Yes, Delta 9 THC, Delta 8 THC and THC-A products, which some refer to as “diet weed,” are legal in Florida.
Although you’re not legally allowed to buy and smoke real pot in Florida this 4/20, you can buy these low-level THC products from your local smoke shop. Delta 8 and Delta 9 THC pre-rolls are also sometimes sold in gas stations that sell nicotine vapes.
